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| A shop is razed during the anti-encroachment drive in Ranchi on Thursday. (Hardeep Singh) |
Ranchi, Feb. 3: Wiser after Tuesday’s flat tyre fiasco, Ranchi district administration deployed two bulldozers to resume its demolition drive on Main Road in right earnest today while more than 100 policemen in riot control vehicles stood by.
Encroachments and illegal structures, belonging to around 100 small and medium businesses, were removed from Doranda and stretches between Booty More and Kanta Toli.
Ranchi sub-divisional magistrate Shekhar Jamuar said the Namkum area would be taken up tomorrow when Jharkhand High Court was scheduled to resume hearings on a PIL based on which it asked the district administration to de-clog Main Road.
“We will clear the area outside the Lawn Bowling Stadium. Encroachments will also be removed from the junction where the road from Namkum touches NH-33,” he said.
On Main Road, the drive began around noon from Mahatma Gandhi Chowk under the supervision of deputy collector (land and revenue) Rajdeep Sanjay John.
Starting from the point where Church Road touches Main Road, the drive continued till Eqra Masjid Chowk. Among the business establishments whose illegal structures were demolished were Hotel Sartaj, Makhija Tower, Mikedo Tower which houses Leather World and IDBI Bank, besides Aushadi Centre and S.S. Machinery.
On Tuesday, an RMC bulldozer developed a flat tyre while being used on this stretch, forcing the authorities to call off the drive for the day.
The same team moved to Doranda around 2.30pm. As many as 16 small shops that had come up outside Loreto Convent were demolished. Demolitions were also carried out at a stretch between Doranda Chowk and Birsa Chowk.
Jamuar supervised demolitions on the stretch between Booty More and Kanta Toli Chowk on NH-33 from noon. The ground beside Shivajee Chowk was cleared and several illegal shops were demolished.
During today’s drive, about 100 district police constables were on standby along with riot control vehicles.
They looked so menacing that in some areas, owners of roadside shops began dismantling their illegal structures voluntarily.
